


lovesick melody, carry my words across the sea

by collectingnames



Series: Fjorclay Week [7]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Domestic, Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, M/M, Post-Campaign, Sailing, Stargazing, fjorclay, fjorclay week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23843155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/collectingnames/pseuds/collectingnames
Summary: “Cedar!  Cam!  Slow down!” Fjord shouts at his children’s backs as they run past towards the water.They both ignore him and run straight into the water.  Cedar swings a leg to kick a wave of water into their brother’s face, soaking him almost completely from the waist down.  He screeches and tries kicking water back at them but they just dodge it.
Relationships: Caduceus Clay/Fjord
Series: Fjorclay Week [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1710829
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	lovesick melody, carry my words across the sea

**Author's Note:**

> I ended up hitting a massive brick wall while writing this where it was just 'ah shit ah fuck i don't know if I'm doing anything right, fuck' but I'm being a completionist so it's done! I just care that it's done. Just some fun out on the water for all of them. I told myself I wasn't gonna get too hung up on boat terminology and then I suddenly had three tabs open on sailing. (Title from You and I by Barns Courtney)
> 
> before anyone asks Cedar is an aasmiar with draconic ancestry, I was just having fun building a dnd character and thought a draconic ancestry sorcerer aasimar would look cool. I personally like to give aasimar feathers. I have designs of the two of them posted here if anyone's curious  
> -> https://luckypencilmangoesboop.tumblr.com/post/615475642187792384/i-made-some-fjorclay-kids-to-include-in-my-modern

“Cedar! Cam! Slow down!” Fjord shouts at his children’s backs as they run past towards the water.

They both ignore him and run straight into the water. Cedar swings a leg to kick a wave of water into their brother’s face, soaking him almost completely from the waist down. He screeches and tries kicking water back at them but they just dodge it.

“Caduceus can you,” Fjord looks up from untying the knots to see that his husband has walked off, “...get...them?”

Looking over his shoulder he spots Caduceus, standing in the shin-deep water. He grabs Cedar by the wrist and hauls them up out of the water, “Come on you two. Boat.”

“Yes, papa,” Cam scrambles out of the water back towards where Fjord is, shaking the water out of his tail.

Caduceus waits a moment before setting Cedar back down, “Go on.”

Fjord keeps an eye out from the corner of his vision as he finishes getting all the lines in order. He tugs on them one more time to make sure everything is secure before pulling himself up onto the deck. Cedar breaks into a run, coming from directly behind their brother to tackle him. But the loud sloshing of water as they pick their feet up and the general loudness of trying to run through water alerts him. He only looks startled for a moment before giggling and turning to run at them in turn. With a wave of his hand Fjord orders the water between the two of them to rise up into a wall that the two of them just barely stop in time to avoid plunging into it full-force.

“Daaaad!” Cam protests, turns back around to face him with a pout that makes his nubby tusks poke out.

Cedar suddenly leaps through the wall of water and tackles their brother, both of them screeching as they go under. Fjord sighs and lets the wall drop, shifts his focus to control the water surrounding his rowdy children, and pulls the bubble of water up onto the deck. He drops his control and the bubble falls apart, water getting everywhere, leaving the two of them completely soaked and stunned. 

Cedar scrambles back up to their feet and almost slips on the wet deck, “Can you do that again?!”

“No,” he says simply as he tosses the two of them towels.

“C’mon,  _ pleeeeease _ ,” they tug on his sleeve.

“I thought you wanted to go sailing,” he shoots back as he gives Caduceus a hand up onto the deck.

“We can do both!” Cam adds.

Caduceus picks up one of the discarded towels, “Come on you two, dry off and we’ll get going.”

Cedar frowns and takes it, “Fine.”

Caduceus winks at Fjord, “We good to go, Captain?”

“Yup, just one second and we’ll be off,” he goes to the back of the boat.

He gives a nod to Caduceus who immediately takes Cedar and Cam’s hands. With another  _ Shape Water  _ Fjord shoves the boat out, changing the flow of the water underneath to give them some momentum before going to the sails. It’s not quite as windy as it usually is but they manage to get a good pace going. Cedar and Cam keep a careful eye on the ocean ahead, determined to spot some dolphins, despite the fact that they aren’t going to be going far enough out to see any even if there were dolphins on the Menagerie Coast. He’s not sure how they got it in their heads, maybe one of their friends decided to pull his leg. 

Cedar’s taken up a spot at the bow with their arms outstretched to the sky and basking in the sun while the breeze courses through their feathers, the scales cresting up their face catching the light a little. They call back over one shoulder, “Can we go collect seashells?”

“Not from the boat, but once we get back to shore,” Caduceus joins them at the bow.

“I wanna find some magic shells.”

“Hmm, I don’t know if there are any magic shells out here.”

“I can find them,” they say with casual confidence.

“Why are you looking for magic shells?” Cam asks from where he’s practicing knots on a scrap length of rope with mixed success.

“I wanna see if Uncle Caleb can use them for any of his spells,” they light up with excitement.

“I’m sure he could find a use for it but not  _ everything _ is a component,” Caduceus tries to point out.

Cam laughs, “You can’t just send him every cool pebble you find.”

“I don’t,” they grumble.

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it either way,” Fjord chimes in from his spot at the rudder.

Fjord sighs and closes his eyes to the midday sun as the salty breeze rushes past him. Cedar and Cam are starting to get antsy, Cedar more obviously so. They keep staring eagerly down into the water, all too ready to just slip underneath the railing and swim next to the boat. Their pronounced restlessness seems to amuse Cam, especially once he’s tied and untied so many knots into his rope that it’s horribly frayed. 

“Cedar!” He calls for them.

They immediately run the length of the boat to him, “Are you gonna throw the anchor?”

“Yup, wanna help?” He pulls himself up to his feet and goes to pull the anchor out of the cubby.

“Yeah!” 

He hefts it up into his arms, “Okay, with me, off which side?”

“Um,” they take a moment to remember, “the bow?”

He makes for the front of the boat, Cedar at his heels, “That’s right. Do you know what to do?”

“We let it down slow, we don’t throw it in,” they say as he hands them a section of the anchor line.

“Good,” he presses the anchor closer to his chest and takes the line with his other hand, “ready?”

“Mhm,” they stand at the ready, feet braced shoulder-width apart, waiting on him.

He drops the anchor over the railing and takes the line in both hands steadily feeding more and more of it into the water. He’s doing almost all of the work but makes sure to give Cedar just enough line to make them feel like they’re helping. Even if they’re too young to really be strong enough to do it there’s no harm in learning and getting a sense for the motions.

Once he feels the anchor settle underneath them he calls over his shoulder, “Cam! Do you want to try and tie off the line?”

He stops mid-conversation with the turtle that’s poking its head out of the water, “ _ Yesyesyes! _ ” Cam takes the line and fumbles in his excitement but after a few tries, he’s managed to secure the line to the cleat.

He ruffles his hair, “Nice!”

“Does this mean we can go swimming now?” Cedar asks.

“Just stay where papa or I can see you,” and the two of them are already off, scrambling to jump into the water.

He double-checks Cam’s knot before going to sit down in the shade of the sails, facing towards where the two of them are splashing each other. Caduceus watches them from his spot leaning against the railing. It’s pretty quiet out aside from the splashing and mix of excited shrieks and conversation they can’t quite make out. For now, they’re the only people this far out from shore. They’re just a little too far out for most casual sailing and nowhere near far enough out to run into any big merchant ships. It’s nothing but the ocean and the four of them. 

Fjord gets up to join Caduceus at the railing, “You’re being awfully quiet.”

“Hm?” Caduceus pulls himself out of whatever deep train of thought he’d drifted into.

“You’re quiet,” he repeats himself.

He shrugs, “Dunno, just sort of been keeping an eye on things. You?”

“I’m good. When do you want to call them back?” 

“Eh, give ‘em a few more minutes, they’re having a good time.”

He anxiously drums his fingers on the railing, “Maybe we’re far enough out that I should-.”

“The last time you cast Water Breathing on them, they hid under the boat,” Caduceus cuts him off.

“Okay, fair enough,” he still has the spell readied though, the magic tingling just under his skin.

It’s easy to get them to come back to the boat with the promise of another water bubble lifting onto the deck. Once everyone’s dry again lunch is quick and simple. They end up having to explain to Cam that cookies aren’t good for turtles, yes, even if the turtle tells you it’s hungry and wants your cookie. Worn out from swimming, Cedar just finds a sunny patch of the deck and curls up for a nap. A few more sailboats glide past, the ones close enough wave politely. It’s starting to get dark out when the other boats sailing by start to drop anchor.

“When’re we going home?” Cedar gets Fjord’s attention by tugging on his sleeve.

“Soon,” he half-answers.

“When’s soon?”

“Don’t worry,” he leans down to whisper, “There’s a surprise.”

“Okay!” The promise of something exciting is enough to keep them from getting too antsy.

By now the sun’s firmly disappeared beneath the horizon, the moons coming to take its place. The stars come into focus once the last flickers of sunset give way to inky blue-black. It looks like nearly everyone with a boat in or near Nicodranas is out. Any other night it would be strange to see so many other people out here after dark. Cam’s attention is fixed firmly on the night above, waiting with bated breath for something, he’s not sure what it is but he knows it’s coming.

And then the first streak of bright white falls through the night. One or two at first, but suddenly the sky is abundant with falling stars. Countless stars tumble into the ocean. The streaking light overwhelms the faintly visible second moon as they cross the night. They make a valiant attempt to stay awake long enough to watch the whole meteor shower but the two of them end up drifting off, slumping against each other before eventually falling flat onto the deck using each other as pillows. Caduceus throws a blanket over them and with that they set sail back to shore with the last traces of the falling stars at their backs.

\------

“That was nice,” Caduceus speaks in a hushed tone as he carefully picks up a fast-asleep Cedar, they stir for a moment but just nuzzle their face into his shoulder and fall back into that same depth of sleep.

“I used to see them before, once or twice coming in and out of port. Never got to get a good look at them though. Weren’t exactly sightseeing,” he takes Cam who wraps his tail loosely around Fjord’s wrist.

Caduceus notices something from the corner of his eye, “Do you think maybe we should grab some seashells?”

“Bed first,” he heads up the beach towards the path home.

  
  



End file.
